Reaffirm, renew, invent and explore

  Now is the time to find new ways, look for better places and explore unforeseen options in order to maintain sanity and redefine to save our art careers.  Many things will never be the same (for some, sadly, more than others) but new opportunities will present themselves as we struggle to make sense of the constant changes. My brick and mortar gallery is closed and will not reopen anytime soon. All effort and time is now being focused on launching an online gallery for my website. We are working out the details to make it easy to peruse and purchase with confidence. The new gallery will be offering the highest quality canvas prints of my most popular paintings. They will be stretched, gallery wrapped and coated with a satin finish true to the originals. In fact, they can easily be mistaken for originals. the quality is exquisite!

Center Panel 40x30

This is "Center Panel" one of the many images that you will be able to choose from the new online gallery. Also available will be greeting cards, my two coffee/end table books, puzzles and a fist full of other cool stuff that will be added as we expand this new venue. Soft launch should be sometime next week! I am looking forward to sharing this new adventure and hearing any comments that you have. Stay healthy and happy.......Don

Pastoral Dreams

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Breakthrough 48x60

 Pastoral Dreams is a three person show opening on September 20th showing thru October 3rd at Ventana Fine Art on Canyon Road in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I am pleased  to be one of the selected artists represented by this great gallery. I will be showing with Natasha Isenhour and Barry McCuan. A reception will be held on September 20th from 5-7 p.m. I am looking forward to a fun packed evening!

Sky Light 36x36

 I will have a total of 16 paintings available for this show including the five shown here.

Bluff Trilogy 30x40

If you happen to be flipping through the pages of a current issue of  "Fine art Connoisseur", the "Santa Fean" or "Southwest Art" you my see one of the ads or reviews for this show.

Early Rise 36x48

Spring Creek 48x36

"Spring Creek" has already been sold! It's exciting to see them go before the show opens!

Ventana Gallery

I am excited to announce that my art will be represented by the prestigious Ventana Gallery located on Canyon Road in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I gained acceptance into this  gallery early in February and recently shipped three of my newest paintings that will be hanging with the likes of John Nieto and Rebecca Tobey! You can check it all out at http://ventanafineart.com/

Early Start 40x30

Restoration Complete 30x40

Spring Creek 48x36

These are the paintings that are now on display and may be purchased from the Ventana Gallery!

Painting large

This madrona tree series is made up of five custom made panels. Each panel is 72 inches high and 18 inches wide. The panels are cradled two inches deep so I continue the look by painting a "gallery wrap" around the edges of each panel and they look very impressive hanging with a one inch gap between panels.

Reaching Out, acrylic on panels, 72x90

Fields and Fences

I have been busy painting a new series of my "Fields and Fences."  Here are a couple that I just recently had photographed. It is fun playing with some new color combinations. I am intrigued with shapes and the fields and roads can be whimsically manipulated in so many ways!

Around the Bend, acrylic on canvas 36x36



Morning Light, acrylic on panel 36x36

The eyes of the beholder

Last Spring I had cataract surgery on both eyes. Because the actual surgery only takes about ten minutes and is "relatively" painless, I decided not to have the anesthesia during the left eye procedure so that I could remember the experience. As I lay there during the process trying to squelch my panic I focused on the almost painful bright light and the image I was seeing/experiencing. I thought, wow, this would make a great abstract painting so I began to make mental notes of exact colors and tried to find shapes in all the brightness. As soon as I was wheeled to the recovery room I found a scrap of paper and scratched a few notes before the memory began to turn fuzzy. When I got back to my studio I chose an 18"x18" stretched canvas, dug out my notes and proceeded  in my attempt to capture the shapes and colors from my experience. On my next trip to the doctor who performed the surgery I carted my painting along with me. He was amazed that I followed through with such a bizarre undertaking and was so enamored with the work that he purchased it that very day! They convinced me to try the right eye with a small amount of the anesthesia and I felt certain that I could make another painting to compare to the left eye. Well, guess what? Whatever the drug is that they use works even in small doses, I couldn't remember ----!

"Cataract" 18x18 acrylic  on canvas

This is the finished painting. I am happy with the result and it does bring back the experience. I am disappointed that I was not able to recall enough detail from the right eye surgery because I was really looking forward to comparing the two paintings.



Dark or light?

When I begin a painting I usually start with a black gessoed canvas or panel and draw my shapes in with chalk. It can take hours to get the drawing right but it is easy to erase with a damp sponge and redraw and adjust the chalk lines until the composition works.

I then start layering and glazing with color leaving the black of the background visible in selected areas kind of like a watercolor artist uses the white of the paper to represent the light areas.  They work from light to dark and I paint  from dark to light, just the opposite.

Evening Hues 20"x40"

"Evening Hues" is painted on a black background and the colors are very saturated and bright.

 

Sunrise in Lavender 30"x40"

On occasion I will start a painting on a white or lighter colored background. Sunrise in Lavender is painted over a white background and you can see the dramatic difference in the final result. The colors end up softer with an ethereal feel.

 

 

May in Olympia

Nine of my newest works will be showing during the month of May at the Childhood's End Gallery in Olympia, Washington. My art will be featured along with that of four other artists.

 

 

"Meet Me for Lunch" 24"x24"

Check out their website at www.childhoods-end-gallery.com. The exhibit will be up through May 31st. If you are in the area stop in and have a look at this great gallery!

Necessity and invention

We all know the saying......Well, here is my invention created out of necessity.

 

Most of my paintings are created using Golden brand fluid acrylics. I buy the colors in 16 oz. plastic cylinders with squirt top lids. I built a shelf on my easel where I set the containers while I was painting but it was very unhandy. They were constantly falling over and the one I wanted was always hiding behind the others. One night I was searching the cupboard for late night snacks when I noticed my wife's spices neatly arranged on this little merry-go-round. A light bulb ignited and I went to my drawing board to design a similar contraption that would hold my colors and the Paint-Go-Round was born!

 

  

 

It works great! I mix my colors in recycled yogurt containers that I keep stacked on the shelf and my jar of brushes and rinse water is nearby! Happy Painting!

 

 

Art talk

I will be giving an art talk and doing a quick demonstration of my painting process at the Blue Whole Gallery in Sequim Tuesday, the 18th (tonight) at 6:00 p.m.  Everybody welcome! Should be fun!

From sketch to canvas

In an earlier October post I said that I was thinking of doing a full size painting using a plein air sketch I did of the Rose Theatre. Well, I found some time and did it. Here is the finished painting along with the original sketch.

 

I used fluid acrylics on a stretched 30"x30" 12 oz. canvas. I worked at it off and on for about a month until I was satisfied with the overall look. I used my artistic licensee quite liberally so it is more of a resemblance than an accurate portrayal of the site but recognizable!

 

 



January workshop

 We are beginning a new and event filled year and I am excited to be doing painting workshops again. The classes will be held at my studio overlooking the bay here in downtown Port Townsend. My studio will comfortably accommodate from ten to twelve students. These smaller classes allow for personal attention to each student and good visibility for the demonstrations.  New this year is a kit I put together providing the canvases and brushes we will be using which should make it easier for everyone to obtain more uniform results while learning the process. The kit will be included in the price for registration.  It consists of 2 black gesso primed canvases (one 14"x18" and  one 12"x16") and 3 quality Daniel Smith brushes (3/4, 1/2 and 1/4) also I will personally sign one of my coffee table books for the kit. The January class will be held on Friday the 24th and Saturday the 25th from 10:00 a.m. to  4:00 p.m. The registration fee will be $250.00 for the 2 day class.  For more information or to sign up for the class please email me at www.don@dontiller.com or phone 360.379.5450.


These are the items included in the kit

Plant-a-thon commission

A little over a month ago I had a surprise visit to my downtown studio by Jude Rubin from the Northwest Watershed Institute.  She asked if I would be interested in creating a painting for the annual Plant-A-Thon where the image would be used on "tree cards" to be sold by students to raise money for their schools.   I quickly accepted the commission even though the deadline for completion was fast approaching.  The next day Jude took me hiking through the Tarboo Watershed where I was able to get a feel for the landscape and explore the salmon runs.  I went back to my studio and sketched out some ideas.  I decided to do the painting on a 30"x42" panel which would scale down perfectly to the 5x7 card size. After hours of editing ideas and drawings I settled on a final theme and sketched a full size drawing (shown below) which I submitted for their approval. 

 

 

 

It took me over three weeks to complete the painting and get it photographed and ready to be sent to the printer. We made the deadline and the cards are selling fast. Here are some excerpts from an article that   appeared in the November 27th issue of The Leader.

 

         

You need an online service to

Screen Name or Email Now I remember!

 Local artist Don Tiller has created an acrylic painting especially for the ninth annual Plant-A-Thon.

The image is featured on the Plant-A-Thon “tree cards,” which are sold by students to raise a grand total of $300,000 for their schools.

For each of the 3,000 trees to be planted by local students during the Plant-A-Thon in February, students sell a tree card for $10; the card entitles the buyer to “plant a tree in honor of someone special.”

Best known for his bright rural landscapes and his playful rendering of patterns of human land use, Tiller often works from his childhood memories of South Dakota farmland. But when he accepted the commission for the Plant-A-Thon card, he hiked through the Tarboo Watershed for firsthand inspiration.

Titled “Thriving Watershed,” Tiller’s painting reflects his fascination with the interdependency of salmon and forests.

“The colors in the tree in the foreground represent the energy and nutrients from the salmon that trees take up after salmon spawn and decompose,” he said.

Tarboo–Dabob Bay is included in the image, as well as a barn on Dabob Road, a historic legacy of the Daniel Yarr farm that operated there during the early 1900s.

“I tried to include the many elements that the Plant-A-Thon program brings together: the salmon, the trees, the history of farming and of course, the kids out there planting,” Tiller said. The tree planters in the painting are modeled after a photo of youth crew leaders Heather and Daphne Hamilton and Hannah Spitzbart.

“Thriving Watershed” is now on display at Tiller’s studio on Water Street in Port Townsend, above the Public House restaurant.

Tree cards are available at participating schools: Port Townsend’s OCEAN Program, Chimacum Pi Program, Swan School, Jefferson Community School, and the PTHS Students for Sustainability Club. They are also available at Farm’s Reach Cafe, the Chimacum Corner Farmstand, and at the Chimacum Crafts Fair on Dec. 14-15, the final Port Townsend Farmers Market on Dec. 21, and at the Food Co-op from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Dec. 23.

 

Here is a link to the actual article:

Leader Plant-a-thon article.

 

 Also, here is the link to the card site where you can purchase cards online:

Ocean honorary tree cards

 

 

 

"Thriving Watershed" 30"x42"

Wet paint / Dry paint

Ahhhh....Studio tour is over and I can get back to using it for the purpose of making art.  I use the Golden brand fluid acrylics in most of my art because they have very good permanence and stability and work well for my layering and glazing process.  One thing that I have had to adapt to since I started using acrylics is the fact that some of the colors which I mix and apply to the canvas appear much darker when they are completely dry.  The blues and greens are especially challenging.  here is an example of a green that I was painting with.  I applied a layer on the canvas and let it dry then I dipped in to the same mix and applied a brushstroke of wet paint over the dry color and you can see the difference. 

 

The challenge is to remember to mix the color I want to use at least one shade lighter than what I think I will need.  It sounds kind of unhandy but I have become accustomed to it now and hardly ever think twice about it.  I will post a picture of the finished painting soon!

 

 

New painting

This is the newest painting fresh from the easel for my Wet Paint series that is available for sale this week on my website.  http://www.dontiller.com/index.php

 

This scene is painted on an 11"x14" canvas with Golden fluid acrylics. It will be available through this week while I work on the next one that will be posted on Monday

 

 

The Amazon venture

I along with many other people received the email from Amazon announcing the launch of their fine art store, Amazon Art, a marketplace that gives customers direct access to more than 40,000 works of fine art from over 150 galleries and dealers.  At launch, Amazon Art showcased artworks from more than 4,500 artists. The store is one of the largest online collections of original and limited edition artwork for purchase directly from galleries and dealers.   I feel very privileged to be a part of this venture!  Amazon selected galleries worldwide of all sizes, including the Gunnar Nordstrom Gallery in Bellevue which lucky for me is one that represents my art!  So.., if you venture to www.amazon.com/art and look up Don Tiller or The Gunnar Nordstrom Gallery you will find my art for sale on the new Amazon art store!  here is an image of one of the paintings listed.

Open Gate 40"x60"

 

I like that Amazon lets you see the painting hanging next  to a chair so that you can visualize the actual size.  sometimes dimensions can be confusing and this certainly helps to see it in the proper perspective.

Series number three!

I have just finished the third painting that I am doing for my Wet Paint series that is available for sale this week on my website.  http://www.dontiller.com/index.php

 

 

 

 

This tractor is painted on an 11"x14" canvas with Golden fluid acrylics. It will be available through this week while I work on the next one that will be posted on Monday!

 

 

 



Next !

I have just completed the second in a series of tractor paintings I am doing for the "Wet Paint" series available on my website store page. http://www.dontiller.com/store.php
This 14"x11" acrylic on canvas will be available for seven days only! 

 

Tractors are one of my favorite subjects to paint.  I like giving them a little character and putting them to work in  imaginary fields.  Buy it now!

 

 

 

Wet Paint! Buy it Now!

I am frequently asked about my recent work and where it can be appraised and purchased.  Most of my new paintings are committed to future shows or have other destinations.  So I came up with the idea of a "first chance" offer to buy one of my latest paintings through my website store. http://www.dontiller.com/store.php 

Every Monday a freshly painted original 11"x14" acrylic on canvas will be added to the store.  It will be available for only seven days and will either be sold or replaced with a new painting the following Monday!  Here is your chance to purchase my newest painting fresh off the easel.

 

Pictured below is the painting that will be offered for this week.  In July we celebrate our Independence and I believe that  John Deere and Coca Cola are the two most iconic brands in the United States.  This is my depiction of a little John Deere gamboling about the fields working to keep the world supplied with food.

 

Buy it now!  at   The "Wet Paint" store

 

 

A "real" painting

I like super realistic paintings although I do not try to paint them very often.  This orange was sitting on my studio table begging to be eaten or painted so I decided to see how realistic I could paint it with my fluid acrylics before I consumed it.  I had a little 6"x6" canvas handy that was primed with venetian red gesso so I drew it almost life size and filled the entire canvas with the subject.   I had so much fun that I went into the kitchen and borrowed a lemon and an avocado and painted them both in the same manner.   They turned out great and both sold before I got them photographed. 

 

It is great to paint outside of your comfort zone once in a while but now I look at this little 6x6 inch orange and think of how awesome it would look on a six foot by six foot or larger canvas!